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Just off a country road north of Winnipeg, in the nearly featureless winter landscape of rural Manitoba, there is a series of nondescript barn buildings. The only hint of what goes on inside is a sign posted in the driveway that reads “Highest Productivity Sow Farm.” It is unlikely anyone passing by would give the place, or any other like it anywhere in Canada, a second thought.

An undercover video shot by the activist group Mercy for Animals Canada shows the conditions inside the barn. Pregnant sows are kept in crates just slightly larger than their swollen bodies; piglets are euthanized by slamming them on the ground; a worker struggles to euthanize a sow with a bolt gun, taking two shots then using a rod to finish the task.

A spokesman for the Manitoba Pork Council says the practice of keeping pigs in "gestation crates" is meant to protect them from hurting and competing with one another. (COURTESY OF CTV)

Saturday night, CTV’s W5 program will broadcast secretly recorded video of how the pork on your table actually gets there.

After viewing the footage, the CEO of Canada’s Federation of Humane Societies, Barbara Cartwright, predicted Canadians are in for a shock. “They are not used to seeing this,” she said. “They still believe animals are being raised in the old farm style.”

The pig farm shown operates like a living production line. It houses about 3,000 sows in “gestation crates” and produces upwards of 1,400 piglets per week, according to Mercy for Animals. The farm was selected at random.

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The man who secretly videotaped the operation worked at the barn from July to September. Because he continues to work on other animal welfare investigations he only spoke on the condition his identity is not disclosed.

“The conditions are horrible,” he told W5 in an interview. “Nothing could prepare me for what I saw. There are thousands of pregnant pigs, in these crates nearly their entire lives.”

The video also shows piglets having their tails cut, the males among them being castrated, all without anesthetic. Piglets that staff decide need to be euthanized are killed using a method called thumping. It consists of an employee swinging the animal by its hind legs, striking its head against any nearby hard object, the remains thrown into a pile, some piglets still twitching.

But much of what’s shown is standard practice, experts say.

“Blunt trauma is regarded as an acceptable method of euthanasia in that it renders the pig quickly unconscious. It’s an effective killing method, but it’s ugly,” said Dr. Robert Friendship, a veterinarian and professor with the University of Guelph who specializes in swine health. “I don’t think there’s any way you can film killing a pig and not having people aghast by it.”

He noted that the video shows an exceptional level of disrespect towards the pigs on the part of the employees. Scenes feature employees slapping a sow and pulling her ears to make her get up after being felled by illness.

“The disturbing thing about the video that I saw was the callousness and disrespect and some of just the rough practice,” said Friendship. “I’ve got a lot of respect for pig farmers and their love of the animals, the way they treat their animals. I’ve seen farmers fire people for kicking or slapping or yelling at pigs.”

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One of the activists who helped plan the hidden camera operation is Twyla Francois, the head of investigations at Mercy for Animals. She argues that pork producers are not intentionally cruel, but are working “with a set of standards and a system of rearing animals that’s inappropriate and this is the result, unbelievable suffering.”

The sow farm is owned by a major Manitoba pork producer, Puratone, which is based in Niverville, a town just south of Winnipeg. It turned down repeated requests to be interviewed, but after two weeks of back-and-forth communication with W5 was given an opportunity to screen the video at its headquarters.

President and chief executive officer Ray Hildebrand provided the following statement: “We are disturbed by some of the images shown in this video, which do not reflect our principles or our animal welfare policy and operating procedures. We have launched an immediate investigation and corrective actions are underway.

“Over our 25 years of farming operations we have strictly followed the provincial regulations regarding animal welfare … and we have two veterinarians on staff to support this mandate.”

Maple Leaf Foods recently acquired Puratone. The deal is still awaiting court approval, but a spokesman for the company was shocked by what he saw in the video.

“The video shows treatment of animals that is disturbing and does not conform to our standards,” said Dave Bauer, manager of public relations at Maple Leaf. “We have zero tolerance for animal abuse and the Puratone operations will be required to follow Maple Leaf’s strict animal welfare policy and procedures, meeting or exceeding all industry and regulatory requirements upon closing of the transaction.”

Critics of Canada’s standards often cite the methods of confining pigs as an example of how the country is lagging behind others, particularly in Europe. Andrew Dickson, general manager of the Manitoba Pork Council, told W5 that the practice of crating pigs was created to protect them from hurting and competing with one another. “We’re being careful with change,” he said, “because with a new system there’s no guarantee that these animals will have the same level of care that we might have had with the previous system.”

While the images may be disturbing, experts interviewed by W5 agreed that most of the actions of the farm staff are within accepted industry standards and likely did not break any laws. Images such as the routine castration and cutting off the tail of piglets without anesthetic are commonly accepted practices.

Mercy for Animals has filed a formal complaint with the office of the chief veterinary officer in Manitoba, noting 14 specific incidents.

Upon viewing the video, Dickson forwarded it to the province’s chief veterinarian Dr. Wayne Lees who has opened a formal investigation based on Mercy for Animals’ complaint. While Dickson declined to comment on the specific events in the video, he indicated that the actions shown didn’t live up to their standards.

“There seems to be a lack of training, there seems to be a lack of respect for the animals,” said Dickson.

Tom Kennedy is a journalist with CTV’s W5, which will air the segment “Food for Thought” Saturday night at 7 p.m.

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